SOS RELIEF is an online tool developed by State of the Arts that facilitates person-to-person financial solidarity. The tool connects people with financial stability to people faced with precarity as a result of the COVID-19 crisis in Belgium.

HOW IT WORKS
HOW TO GIVE MONEY: choose GIVE, choose the amount you’d like to give (50, 100, 200 or 400 euros) and your email address. The administrators of the tool look for matches between the amounts given and the amounts requested. When we find someone who has asked this same amount, we will contact you with the bank details in order to make a direct, one-time transfer. Your name will appear on the receiver’s bank statement. Therefore, full anonymity is not possible. You can give as many times as you want.

HOW TO ASK FOR MONEY: choose RECEIVE. Fill out your name, bank account number* and the amount you need (50, 100, 200 or 400 euros). The administrators of the tool look for matches between the amounts given and the amounts requested. Someone who is willing to give the amount you asked, will receive your bank account information and make the transfer to your account. Therefore, full anonymity is not possible. You can only receive once.

BELIEVE IN THE RELIEF
SOS-relief is offering the opportunity to give money to someone without asking them to prove their need. At the same time, it allows anyone in a state of emergency to ask for one-time financial support. Here are a few reasons why:

1. We believe that people need cash, no questions asked.

2. We believe in trusting that if people ask for cash now, then they need it now. So, we don’t lose time doubting motives and playing detective. Rent payments and grocery bills don’t have that time to wait now.

3. We believe not in charity, but in solidarity. If one of us can’t make ends meet today, then tomorrow, it could easily be someone else.

4. We believe in direct, person-to-person support. If we can help the other, then why don’t we?!

5. We believe that right now, the world we live in just does not work for too many, and we need to think of different ways of doing things. This is an opportunity to experiment and engage in a concrete gesture of social solidarity that supports mutuality.

We think of this tool as an experiment in a different way of doing things. It will have flaws. We are open to suggestions for how you think we can make this better. So, please be in touch and write to sosrelief@state-of-the-arts.net